'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' Reference a Looming Malevolent Corporation

If there's one thing that Marvel knows how to do, it's make fans excited about the future. As Falcon and the Winter Soldier digs into the meat of its short season, fans are eager to look for easter eggs in every corner of the frame. That includes the end credits for the series, which featured a hint at what might be coming down the pike on the show. 

Eagle-eyed fans noticed a poster advertising "Power Broker" in the end credits of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and saw the word "Watching" beneath it. There was also a vial of blue serum on the screen. 

These easter eggs tie into some of the new characters that the show introduced in the premiere episode, including John Walker, the man that the U.S. government chose as the new Captain America. 

In the comics, Power Broker, Inc. is the name of the company behind the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation. The Federation is a wrestling organization composed entirely of superhuman people. The world of the comics features stories where superpowered beings square off inside the ring, but most of the company's wrestlers are actually created through experimentation by the company. 

Among the most notable people to be turned into a superhero by UCWF is John Walker, who also assumes the title of Captain America in the comics. 

Founded by Curtiss Jackson, the company was also willing to loan its wrestlers out as supervillains if it meant gaining a profit. Curtiss also hired Dr. Karl Malus, who was responsible for the experiments that created the super wrestlers. 

Dr. Malus, who has not yet been introduced on Falcon and the Winter Soldier but may be in a future installment, famously experimented on a young teenager named Joaquin Torres in the comics. Joaquin has already been introduced on the show, and, if it's faithful to the comics, he may be in a position to become the new Falcon once Sam officially takes on the role of Captain America. 

Joaquin turns into the Falcon after an experiment with Malus turns him into a human/animal hybrid. None of that has happened in the world of the series yet, but it seems possible that that's where the show is ultimately headed. 

Like many end-credit teasers in the Marvel universe, the hints at the end of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier credits help viewers understand exactly what's going on in the story if they've paid attention to the comics. 

But it's still possible to understand what's happening without having read them. Marvel is not designed only for superfans. It's designed for casual fans, and for the people who want to be superfans, but need to do plenty of reading after the fact in order to figure out exactly what's going on. Whatever's coming on Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it's clear that Marvel's second proper TV show is taking plenty of pages from what made the movies so successful.